Worst albums of 2016 so far?

[Bradley 59,107]

Mind of Mine and ANTI are both amazing.

I'm not obsessed over Lemonade but it isn't too bad either.

Haven't heard Views and Thank You. 

[PaperIz 7,346]

1 hour ago, UK Monster said:

How is ANTI a letdown its an awesome album! Rihanna's been awesome this year.

It's just how she handled the whole era and how like fake artistic it is. The 3 "promo singles" were better than the whole album but left off because they weren't successful, but it's somehow suppose to be an album that's anti commercial. And work, while I like it now, is still probably her worst single to date. The whole thing was a huge mess and I feel betrayed by Rihanna lol. It's not a bad album, I downloaded it when it released but let's just say I'm glad it was free because I wouldn't have spent a dime on it lol.

[Mister Gaga 22,920]

WTF is wrong with you saying Mind of Mine?  is amazing

Meghan's Thank You is truly awful...

[StrawberryBlond 14,865]

I listen to albums all year, so there's a few, but this is the worst of the worst...

Blackstar - Please don't hate me. A lot of Bowie stuff just doesn't do it for me, sorry. I don't know what he's going on about in this album, it just stumps me. 'Tis A Pity She Was A W***e is one of the worst songs I've ever heard and if it hadn't been released by a legend, it would be panned.

Khalifa - Another stupid pot album. Please stop giving your money to these types, people, please.

Views - Why is Drake so popular? I am genuinely dumbfounded. He's terrible. Thankfully, the critics weren't so gushing about this one, but they're still nowhere near harsh enough. May I add that One Dance is #1 for a 12th consecutive week in my country? For what? A song barely 2:30 long about nothing with a forgettable bear?

Thank You - Meghan sold out hard. This new urban style is simply not working for her and anything cringey about her before is amplified x10. She took a big risk for a one hit wonder by changing and it didn't pay off.

 

9 hours ago, Didymus said:

I mean. I'm all for taste is subjective etc. but that I really don't understand. Even when not liking something because it's not your taste, you should still (imo) be able to commend the strength of songwriting and production etc. which, on Lemonade, is pretty undeniable imo. I mean, what the hell are you listening to that's so much better crafted than that?

For me it's probably Dangerous Woman. Some songs on it are great, but as an album it just doesn't come across to me. The songs might as well have been separately released, I sense no connection between them. I don't like albums to be collections of songs, so that's why I'm gonna choose that one, though shout-out to Moonlight and I Don't Care for being fantastic

I know this isn't directed at me (and I think Lemonade is decent, let's make that clear) but I think your assertion that the strength of songwriting and production should at least be commended is a bit odd to me. If someone doesn't like it song, it usually means they don't like any part of it. If they say they think there's not one good song on an album, it implies that they don't think there's any songwriting or production to commend. And for the last sentence, well, I am listening to a lot of stuff that's better crafted than Lemonade, easily. That album is just crafted like many albums I've seen before. Telling a chronological story through an album is not new and I've heard better albums do this idea better. And as for albums in general, Lemonade is just decent, like I said. I'm just as puzzled that some people think Lemonade is the best crafted an album can be. It makes me wonder how much music these people listen to and if they only restrict themselves to listening to the biggest names.

Surprised by your choice of Dangerous Woman. I think it's one of the best albums of the year. Not the best, but better than average (although there's barely been any above average albums this year so goodness knows how good it's going to be at the end of the year). I don't understand why you seem to think the songs are unconnected. It's an album about a woman who's feeling happy because she's in love and what this love does to her. All the songs are about the effect love has on her. Seems like a cohesive album to me. Not every album has to be a chronological story of true events like Lemonade to be good. A good album to me is just an album filled with good music, regardless of what its genres and themes are. Hence why I like AP. A schizophrenic album is fine as long as the music is good.

7 hours ago, PaperIz said:

It's just how she handled the whole era and how like fake artistic it is. The 3 "promo singles" were better than the whole album but left off because they weren't successful, but it's somehow suppose to be an album that's anti commercial. And work, while I like it now, is still probably her worst single to date. The whole thing was a huge mess and I feel betrayed by Rihanna lol. It's not a bad album, I downloaded it when it released but let's just say I'm glad it was free because I wouldn't have spent a dime on it lol.

That's the way I feel. I'm not even a Rihanna fan, but she built up this album so much and I liked 2/3 promo singles, so even I was thirsty for it. But what we actually got was just halfway decent. Better than her last 2 albums, but not GGGB, RR or Loud standard. I like how you noticed the same thing as me - that the album seemed like such a sham because if it was supposed to be so anti commercial, why did she remove the three singles preceding it because they weren't successful and spent her time in the aftermath re-working the album to suit public taste a bit more? And considering that the album was supposedly all about taking risks, why did she feature Drake on it, arguably the most successful hip hop/RnB act around right now? Why weren't all her collabs on the album with lesser known acts, like she did with SZA? Yes, the album was a risk by Rihanna standards, but by general standards, there's far more anti commercial stuff than this.

[KingRedd 3,139]

 people saying lemonade did not have one good song on it.... I'm used to people hating Beyonce on here by now but ever since Lemonade the hate has gotten so strong... Wonder why

[Nini mini boss 1,444]

[Harry 26,836]

The fumes created by Beyonce

If y'all really think for a second that Lemonade (or most of the albums named in this thread so far - even ones I don't like) are actually the worst of any album released this year, then you're just dumb. Point blank. Either that or you don't listen to much music, or you're just out to be shady for no reason.

[The Surrealist 27,470]

2 minutes ago, Harry said:

The fumes created by Beyonce

If y'all really think for a second that Lemonade (or most of the albums named in this thread so far - even ones I don't like) are actually the worst of any album released this year, then you're just dumb. Point blank. Either that or you don't listen to much music, or you're just out to be shady for no reason.

People like to trash Beyoncé for no reason. Most of them could not even articulate why it is a 'bad' album. Lemonade is the strongest album this year, at least pop-wise. The worst album is "7/27".

[Noah 26,941]

22 hours ago, AlexanderLevi2 said:

If you think 7/27 or Thank You are better than Rih and Bey's album, your opinion holds no strength.

Well, 7/27 and Thank You aren't made to be Albums, they are a bunch of single choices from a&r's on an album or just not well thought out. I do not think that any of the two would ever be titled the better than ANTi or Lemonade, since they sound outdated (which is not bad though, it's just generic). 

[AlexanderLevi2 5,849]

1 hour ago, Noahhh said:

Well, 7/27 and Thank You aren't made to be Albums, they are a bunch of single choices from a&r's on an album or just not well thought out. I do not think that any of the two would ever be titled the better than ANTi or Lemonade, since they sound outdated (which is not bad though, it's just generic). 

And? They are still presented as albums and I think the Rihanna and Beyonce hate is just petty monsters. Sure you don't have to like either of the albums, but Anti is not the worst album of 2016. It's just the hate of the artist or over exaggeration of their distaste of the album.

[TropicOfCANCER 6,292]

If "Mind of Mine" had major quality control/reorganizing of the tracklist (i.e. cut about 8 songs since this album is LONG) it could have been amazing. the filler tracks bring down the overall impact of the album but there's a GREAT album there.

 

"Anti" is pretty good. I've given it a good listen over the past few months, and i don't think its great or awful. Just good, wasn't worth a three year wait though. 

 

[HaveAnOysterBBy 796]

Anti x100

[Hellspont 1,468]

On 7/1/2016 at 5:13 PM, Bellatrix said:

Oh please lol

[Bellatrix 34,796]

59 minutes ago, Hellspont said:

Oh please lol

[Didymus 34,379]

8 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

I know this isn't directed at me (and I think Lemonade is decent, let's make that clear) but I think your assertion that the strength of songwriting and production should at least be commended is a bit odd to me. If someone doesn't like it song, it usually means they don't like any part of it. If they say they think there's not one good song on an album, it implies that they don't think there's any songwriting or production to commend. And for the last sentence, well, I am listening to a lot of stuff that's better crafted than Lemonade, easily. That album is just crafted like many albums I've seen before. Telling a chronological story through an album is not new and I've heard better albums do this idea better. And as for albums in general, Lemonade is just decent, like I said. I'm just as puzzled that some people think Lemonade is the best crafted an album can be. It makes me wonder how much music these people listen to and if they only restrict themselves to listening to the biggest names.

Well, maybe it's just me but I've come across many good cultural products that I just didn't like because they weren't suited to my taste or I just didn't "get" it. Technical quality and taste are two completely different things. I remember listening to my first heavy metal album and thinking omg what the hell is this but I could easily say that the band members had an amazing talent when it came to their instrument usage, and that the production on it was of high quality.

I didn't mean the story building or whatever.

Anyway, I listen to many genres, and I'm really not one of those people restricting themselves to listening to the biggest names. I just think Lemonade is better written (I especially appreciate the deviation from the typical pop structures, which I can only find on Freedom, where the structure is so well used it doesn't feel contrived) and produced than most pop albums we've heard this decade. Whether you like it has nothing to do with that imo Just my opinion.

8 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Surprised by your choice of Dangerous Woman. I think it's one of the best albums of the year. Not the best, but better than average (although there's barely been any above average albums this year so goodness knows how good it's going to be at the end of the year). I don't understand why you seem to think the songs are unconnected. It's an album about a woman who's feeling happy because she's in love and what this love does to her. All the songs are about the effect love has on her. Seems like a cohesive album to me. Not every album has to be a chronological story of true events like Lemonade to be good. A good album to me is just an album filled with good music, regardless of what its genres and themes are. Hence why I like AP. A schizophrenic album is fine as long as the music is good.

Well I'm very surprised by that There's nothing on that album that's above average except Moonlight and I Don't Care to me and even those two songs aren't unique or pushing pop boundaries whatsoever.

There's no flow on that album imo, especially sonically. The transitions between the first five songs alone are just ludicrous to me, and I never appreciate it when the mixes are so different there's an actual audible volume drop between the songs, which just adds to the feeling that the album was slapped together from a heap of recorded songs and not crafted as a piece (very different from Lemonade).

A lot of the songs are enjoyable, but there's nothing on there that I can't find on a previous album or on the album of another artist, and the reliance on predictable song structures is just unbearable to me (though I appreciate she stepped up her game a bit in that context, but when you still have tracks like the title one, you're still not going far enough - her Christmas EP had more exciting songs that were better written and produced than anything on Dangerous Woman). You can say the same for Lemonade surely, but Lemonade is a piece, musically, and is an experience, while Dangerous Woman is just a collection of songs. It might as well have been an album of outtakes created by one of her fans or whatever.

Anyway, I was really just talking about the production level and the quality of songwriting (the latter in the sense that none of the songs are radio friendly, and each one comes out as an adventurous musical journey brimming with attention to detail, and avoiding typical song structures when it diminishes the emotional impact of the song; Sorry's last minute being the perfect example, since that's the most radio friendly track by far, a minute that destroys its instant accessibility). That album can stand next to non-pop releases and look good (though it obviously shouldn't be called the best album of the year, it's still too derivative for that), and it easily towers over other pop albums in terms of production alone. That's what I meant.